Retired... again

As a result of Summit's pannus he has been retired from the blood donor program. Unfortunately pannus is an autoimmune condition, the treatment for which is immunosuppressive eye drops for life. While these drops should only affect the eye, it is possible for him to absorb small amounts of it into the rest of his body, and while those amounts shouldn't be enough to suppress his immune system it is still something they are concerned about. It's very disappointing considering the effort we went through to get him enrolled in the program, only to have him donate for half a year and be retired.

I've saved a few lives in my lifetime. No biggie.

But there is an up side to all this! It means Summit is getting a new career! Or vying for one anyone. And that new career is THERAPY DOG! He will have his behaviour evaluation in the New Year, and hopefully all will go well and we will be certified. Looking through the "tests" I have only one concern, and that is interaction with other dogs. Summit is not aggressive, but he does detest rude and inappropriate behaviour from other dogs and he has absolutely no problem putting them in their place. Hopefully all the other dogs will be polite. So much as a little growl at another dog and apparently you fail. Seems a little silly and harsh to me. Personally I'm not going to correct my dog for an appropriate response to inappropriate behaviour. Problem is, most people just don't seem to get what inappropriate is. Sure, a dog jumping up and being over excited is probably not entirely polite, but that dog approaching slowly, stiff legged, tail high, ears forward, staring... that's not rude at all! I was recently shown a really great article discussing inappropriate dog behaviour and how most owners just don't understand what that is: He Just Wants to Say Hi. Long, but a fantastic article. I highly recommend reading it over.